What I love about this article is that it shows how much work used to go into 'designing a sound', something that we do today with synthesizers by the tweak of some buttons. That used to require a ton of craftsmanship and knowledge as well as the collaboration with others such as composers.
[0] edit; certainly in tune but quite harsh, rough as a terrier's coat
Of course 'saxophone' is a whole range of instruments going from Low-E giants to saxes so small you have to have pretty small fingers to not hit two valves at the same time.
The mouthpiece and the reed thickness are a big factor in this as is air pressure, 'tonguing' the reed and how you shape your mouth cavity. Endless variation.
But the basic harmonics are baked into the instrument, those would be very hard to change though I'm sure it is possible to manipulate which ones get amplified by the above changes to the environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZjZBe6o78M
Is a nice example, it would be a pretty boring song without that raging saxophone.
A cylinder open on one end (clarinet) only supports odd harmonics, which is why a clarinet sounds "rounded" and overblows into a twelfth, rather than an octave (as on former two).
Oboe's sound is pliable, thanks to the double reed, player's embouchure, and the richer spectrum of the conical bore. On the other hand, clarinet's sound is more robust, but somewhat limited by the straight cylindrical bore. Marrying these two resulted in a robust yet richer sound. Let alone using brass for the body no need to worry so much about cracks and temperature swings. Perfect for outdoor performances!
Wish I've known these similarities back in the day ..., would've saved us lots of effort trying to blend in oboe sound into a 'cool' band - sax was all it needed! Oh, well, experimentation was fun still ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b-zbqcRick
There are differences of course, but I'd bet the majority of people couldn't tell most of the time.
For a lark I once played organ pipes of an organ that was being decommissioned. It is absolutely incredible how much air that requires, a 8' pipe I could just about get to resonate, and once they resonate it becomes a lot easier because you have some backpressure but that initial rush to get the reed to move at all is quite literally breathtaking.
And it isn't just a Martin Fröst thing. I played recently with Christoffer Sundqvist, Emil jonasson and Harri Mäki (as well as with Fröst on several occasions) and they all did crazy big-jump-gymnastics that put every other instrument to shame.
My theory is that the sparse overtones makes it _easier_ once you have the kind of control these people have.
* The development of airtight pads for the clarinet in 1812 allowed manufacturers to add more keys, culminating in the modern Boehm system in 1839. The earlier clarinets looked like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3NCGSvKHCQ
* Between around 1800-1850, the piano gained the cast iron plate, stronger steel wires, and the double escapement action. 88 keys weren't common until the latter part of the century. Earlier pianos (fortepianos) looked like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ef95BZfYcw
* Antonio de Torres is credited with developing the modern classical guitar starting in the 1850's. Steel string guitars were developed later, and were made commercially by Gibson and Martin starting in the 1920's.
I also played the clarinet in school, took piano lessons at home, and am currently learning guitar. Great choices!
Sadly, I find this to be the case. I'm in the odd position of having grown up playing sax, and yet unable to enjoy it in the context of jazz.
I still have my 1987 Yamaha alto with Vandoren mouthpiece and pull it out every couple years. Remarkable piece of technology, really.
